Laya, GloHealth to increase price of health insurance

The price of health insurance with Laya Healthcare and GloHealth is to go up by as much as 14 per cent starting next month.

A Laya spokeswoman stressed that only one of its plans was affected in the current round of price increase although the company did also announce its intention to get rid of some of its family-friendly incentives from the beginning of May.

The price increases announced by GloHealthcare are more wide-ranging with a large number of its plans affected.

Once the price increases kick in in May affected customers of both providers will have to pay more from their next renewal date.

The cost of adult premiums under Laya Healthcare's Essential Connect Family plan is to go up from €920 to €1049.92, while children's premiums under the same policy will climb from €204 to €210.12. Young adult premiums will also increase, the Health Insurance Authority said.

The price hike will add more than €270 on to the annual cost of those who are insured under the plan.

“In May 2015, the adult rate was €987 per year,” a Laya spokeswoman said. “In December this was reduced to €920, and from May 1st 2016 [IT]will be priced at €1,049.20 per adult, per year,” she continued. “From May 1st, a family of two adults and two children renewing on Essential Connect Family will see a 5.8 per cent year-on-year price increase.

Other plans offered by Laya Healthcare will not be affected although from May 1st, the company will begin scrapping a offer which gave all but the first child covered under seven different family policies free health insurance.

Under the new pricing structure for those policies, second and subsequent children premiums will increase by as much as €410.83 per year.

Last September, the company announced price increases which averaged 4 per cent.

GloHealth is also planning hit thousands of its customers with price increases with the cost of popular policies going up by between 6 and 8 per cent .

The increases from both Laya Healtcare and GloHealth come just days after Vhi Healthcare, the State's leading provider of private health insurance, announced its own price increases.

The cost of health insurance VHI customers is to go up by an average of 3 per cent from the beginning of next month.